Things that really scare parents.. not movies.. not monsters.. but
fevers. And this week we had our share

MY NIGHTMARE.

It began a week ago. I got sick—selfishness took over and I requested leave time from my fatherly duties. My wife luckily allowed me to get a full day of sleep. Then the next day when my son, Ayden, went to school and her to work, I stayed home. And slept again.. Whatever this bug was took the life out of me..

My son was the next in the house to get it. Over the past 72 hours, we have gone through a series of traumas related to it.

Sickness is normal, and common. Fevers happen. But Ayden’s fever spiked several times to 105. At one point he was going up. We made the typical frantic night time calls to nurses on duty. We did the Motrin/Tylenol routine—which worked actually when we needed it to. We avoided the cold water however, as the body temperature dives quickly the fever spikes higher and just as bad immediately after the submerged body leaves the cold water.

It was the OTHER events that caused serious concerns. And a trip to the ER as a precaution.

WORLDS COLLIDING.

At this website, you’ll find a strange variety of paranormal and strange news.. mixed in some personal ramblings and a political opinion here and there. They all say blogs are dead. I suppose I’m one of the walking dead since I’m still writing. Nonetheless, I pride myself on the content provided. I hope you, the reader agrees. I digress..

For as long as I have been here I have been writing about sleep paralysis. When THE NIGHTMARE was released I praised it highly. I wrote about the subject matter a few more times.

This week, when my 5-year-old Ayden was sick, there were scenes seemingly torn from the pages of the playbook of THE NIGHTMARE.

Ayden had three (bad things come in threes, right?) extremely awful and terrifying sleep issues. My wife and I initially thought it was a reaction to medicine. The doctors seem to think it was due to the stress on the body and the abnormally high fever for his age that this viral infection caused (it was not the flu or anything else they could pinpoint) ..

During all three separate times, Ayden’s face locked in a fear position. His mouth widely opened as did his eyes. He was sleeping next to me during two of the occasions. Oddly I woke up at the same time he did. I looked at him thinking he was awake, but he could not move. His eyes were rapidly looking around the room, his legs twitching, and his fingers somewhat moving. He was stuck. While I feared a fever related seizure could have been occurring, my wife and I dismissed it as there were no signs of it. We made him sit up. And even though he caused his movement, he stayed stuck in a dream.

The dreams or whatever world he was glued within caused him to say some wild statements. Such as “Daddy stop moving the TV.” Or “I am getting too small!” These statements may sound ludicrous and humorous to a non parent, but picture your innocent child screaming these things out in shear panic and fear, unable to move his body and even break from the nightmare he was within.

The third time it happened, we were already prepared for a doctor visit but we wanted him to nap beforehand. The nap ended with the worst of the sleep issues of the week. He could not break from the nightmare. He screamed at his mom and me: “I’m mad!” while he tried to weep but could not even find the strength to cry. We quickly dressed him and got him to see someone. All the while during a 20 minute drive, he stared at me from his car seat in some form of rage. A look I never saw before—and one that was not him. I don’t think it was. I think for the duration of that drive he was still stuck in a nightmare….

RELIEF

I don’t “knock on wood” for luck. But as I write this I am knocking on wood just in case the old adage has any merit. Ayden’s fever has gone down as I write this. He slept the night with only one moment of waking up to use the bathroom. And he seems better. He seems to be coming back to this world again.

I hope it continues. If you, reading this, have sick kids, we as parents all know the normal drills and how fearful fevers can get. Yes they are a sign of the immune system reacting as normal. However, that system response can certainly freak you at at 3am, the witching hour, when a temperature skyrockets to 106.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE

It’s the modern age. One of the first things I did yesterday after the situation began to calm a bit, was go to Facebook and ask friends if they have experienced any of these issues. Not sleep paralysis of the adult kind, but the toddler version. I got an overwhelming response with a number of people relating frightening sickness related terrors that their children experienced. One person I know told me her son gets it on a regular basis. My other brother reminded me that my nephew got it severely when he was a child. At one point about 15 years ago, my nephew got it so bad during a fever that he was stuck in a dream for an hour screaming wildly and having trouble breathing until my sister showed up—he was requesting my sister’s presence during his terror.

I am not alone. If it is happening to you, you are not alone. I also found a number of forums of people naming their experiences. Heck, I even found people posting video of their children experiencing it on Youtube—something that seems dreadfully tacky though exceptionally accepted in the modern age.

FINAL MESSAGE

During the quiet moments of desperation, your body forgets to do certain things and also remembers to do others. For example, between my being sick and my sick being sick, I lost an incredible 10 pounds this week . While I wanted to lose weight, it wasn’t the way I envisioned. Though now in an ironic twist, as I woke up this morning, I am at the desired weight that My Fitness Pal told me I’d safely be at by May. Nonetheless, while I forgot to eat, I also remembered to pray. Pray to whoever listens.. family? Friends? Grandparents? Mother in law? God himself. I hit them ‘all’ up for some help.

The day was a mighty beautiful day yesterday. Too beautiful to spend a day in the ER though we were there. I took a brief talk to the cafeteria and got to a window, and snapped a photo of the scene.

Later in the night, a voice told me to go back and look at the photo again. So I did. And as I inspected it I saw an orb in the bottom center.

A point to mention: I rarely believe in orbs. I think they are dust, glare, or just passing moments of errors on the camera phone. However, in this situation, I will just think of that orb as a little hello from the series of prayers I let loose at the window as I was staring at the early spring sun.